


Goodbye

by NYS30



Series: Mariah Dillard Drabbles [1]
Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 23:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8347375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYS30/pseuds/NYS30
Summary: Mariah says goodbye to Cornell





	

She’s in the morgue, preoccupied by the body covered in a sheet, the numbness she’s felt ever since “the incident” receding and giving way to waves of grief, guilt, and a sickening combination relief and shame.

Grief that her little family has shrunk even more.

Guilt that the same hands that helped nurture and raise him up, are the very same ones that tore him down.

Relief that he is no longer an albatross around her neck. Cornell had become obsessed with taking on Luke Cage, and it was only a matter of time before he would drag all of them down. 

Shame that the thought even crossed her mind.

She tells him about his father, how special Malik was, how talented, but most of all that his father wanted him, but was lost to the streets of Harlem.

She tells him about his mother, how pretty Jazmine was, with a wildness that even Mama Mabel couldn’t tame. How she “wasn’t ready to be nobody’s mama” and took off.

She tells him that she tried to protect him, she did. But there’s only so much protection she could have given when she was also in need of saving. 

The words “I’m sorry” get stuck in her throat and as she feels herself start to splinter entirely, she realizes she’s not alone. 

“You did what you had to do”


End file.
